Wooden boat construction- Malaysia

[Ari]

This website belongs to Christoph.He had recorded quite detail pictures of the construction.I'am not very sure why it is not updated though.Maybe he is back in Germany..we are nearly at the tail end of the dragon now - monsoon season.
http://www.naga-pelangi.de/Naga_2/malay/
http://www.naga-pelangi.de/

[Guillermo]

Interesting pages and wooden construction technique. I'd love to pay a visit and watch, but....well, at least we have the WWW.
'Neobalanocarpus heimii' is used as wood to build the boat. Quality of that wood seems excellent but the specie seems to be in danger of extinction; and for a tree that takes 75 years to attain 64 cm diameter, all cares have to be taken to preserve it. So maybe it's not the best idea to use it for boatbuilding nowadays.....nor for any other thing.
Wooden boatbuilding should be encouraged to use wood got from sustainable forest management, as promoted by the International Tropical Timber Organization:
http://www.itto.or.jp/live/index.jsp

[Ari]

We still have a lot of Chengal.. but we have to really control the logging. Boat building is actually not the main reason that some of our tropical hardwood species driven to near extinction. It is the oil palm.. luckily 70 % our peninsular is mountainous area oil palm need low land.. In our drive to be the first major producer..now we are paying for that oversight.

[safewalrus]

Don't speak a word of Malaysian (pretty sad for a guy who was part of the Colonial power helping to set the country up / survive the event, but we won't go into that!) But there's some lovely lines in some of those boats! Yes Gilly it would be a pleasure to be there just to watch them being built, thoughly agree with you there mate!!


Jeff we could do with some smilies that say Nice! Beautiful and all that! OK we have a couple but most of 'em are more for sarcasm etc - is the Walrus really saying this?

[Ari]

Originally Posted by Ari

This website belongs to Christoph.He had recorded quite detail pictures of the construction.I'am not very sure why it is not updated though.Maybe he is back in Germany..we are nearly at the tail end of the dragon now - monsoon season.
http://www.naga-pelangi.de/Naga_2/malay/
http://www.naga-pelangi.de/

For those of you who had followed this boat construction progress, the site owner just updated with some new photo.

[Frosty]

I always thought that 'Naga pelangi was built in Trengganu. A good friend of mine bought her in Oh say 2000. We took her for some work at Ratanachi ship yards Phuket where she was re-engined. She became British registered and we sailed her back to Malaysia in some pretty rough weather I seem to remember. Clear blue skies but rough.
She was sold on to another Englishman and is now a charter vessel , I see her around occasionaly.
Although her scuppers were always awash she would go so far and no further, After a while one became quite confident in her capabilities. Strangley her rigging to windward never seemed to be stressed,-- yet with engine just running would quite easily achieve 6kts.

[Ari]

Christoph do get involved real deep in this second Naga Pelangi..he stayed at that yard..! After the completion..I dare to say he might be the only European very well verse in the Malay method of big boat building. The first Naga Pelangi is a Bedar, the second is a Pinis. I had no doubt he can built a Bedar or Pinis lots better than lots others.

[hansp77]

Thanks Ari,
Beautifull boat and construction.
I looked through every single photo.
They say that the bark caulking will last the entire life of the boat, being over a hundred years. Interesting.

Is there a price tag on this construction yet?

Price-wise and practically, would this sort of construction be suited to some more modern designs, and even the addition of some modern materials in parts (epoxy, carbon etc)?
Ie, could the average person consider this sort of construction for something like a family round-the-worlder.
Not that I am in the position to do so now or at any time in the near future, but I have for a long time thought about getting a boat such as this (but a bit smaller) built from traditional woods and construction techniques, with a sprinkling of modern materials and parts.

[Guillermo]

Thanks for the info Ari. I love the construction and the wood. Christoph and the boatyard are doing a great job.

[Ari]

The price tag on a 70 footer sail yacht is about RM1.5 million(RM3.7 to USD1.0).A fishing boat hull will cost RM400K for the same size.
The smaller boat will cost less.Those traditional boat builders in Duyong Island (mermaid island) of Trengganu are real traditionalist..but they also do works with fibreglass and epoxy..carbon fibre is out I believe..they doesn't have that expertise,in Malaysia those modern material boat builders normally only built power boats .

[Ari]

Originally Posted by Guillermo

Thanks for the info Ari. I love the construction and the wood. Christoph and the boatyard are doing a great job.

You are right..

[Ari]

Have a look at this link.
http://www.ballofdirt.com/entries/3200/18483/1.html

[Guillermo]

Interesting

[Crag Cay]

"...Interesting..."

It's to break up the laminar flow.

[Ari]

Then it will have the same effect like a golf ball in flight..!